Panacea Pharmaceuticals Will Present Data That Its Cancer Biomarker HAAH Is Readily Detectable in Serum Exosomes

Thu, 03/30/2017 - 17:12 — bioquicknews

On March 30, 2017, Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that a paper regarding detection of the cancer biomarker HAAH [human aspartyl (asparaginyl) beta hydroxylase] will be presented at the annual American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting in Washington, D.C., held April 1-5, 2017. The paper is titled: "Improved Detection of Cancer Specific Serum Exosomal Aspartyl (Asparaginyl) Beta Hydroxylase (HAAH)." The paper demonstrates major refinements to Panacea's multi-cancer HAAH-exosome detection assay that targets the cancer-specific blood serum biomarker HAAH. The cancer field is intensely focused upon exosomes, which are nanoparticle-sized sub-cellular vesicles derived from cancer cells that are proving to be important biomarkers and mediators of cancer cell metastasis and progression. The company asserts that the association of Panacea's target molecule HAAH with exosomes has led to a better individual understanding of these biomarkers as well as further development of a markedly improved diagnostic test with higher sensitivity and specificity than previous versions of the assay. "We are excited to report our continued advances in the understanding of the role of serum exosomes in the detection and monitoring of cancer," said Hossein Ghanbari, Ph.D., CEO and CSO of Panacea. Panacea Pharmaceuticals, headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland, is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel biologically targeted cancer therapies and diagnostics for unmet medical need. The company has recently initiated a Phase 1 trial of its PAN-301-1 therapeutic cancer vaccine in prostate cancer patients and has late-nonclinical-stage projects in serodiagnosis of cancer, immuno-imaging of cancer, monoclonal antibody-based immunotherapy of cancer, and neuroprotection, specifically in prevention of chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment and peripheral neuropathy.